The Making of an Alliance: The Origins and Development of the US-Israel Relationship [Hardcover]

A critical overview and re-evaluation of the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States.An accessible re-evaluation of the US-Israel relationship, this book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between the two countries and its people, through their religion, values, and history.An accessible re-evaluation of the US-Israel relationship, this book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between the two countries and its people, through their religion, values, and history.Laying the foundation for an understanding of US-Israeli relations, this lively and accessible book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States. Questioning the usual neo-realist approach to understanding this relationship, David Tal instead suggests that the relations between the two nations were constructed on idealism, political culture, and strategic ties. Based on a diverse range of primary sources collected in archives in both Israel and the United States, The Making of an Alliance discusses the development of relations built through constant contact between people and ideas, showing how presidents and Prime Ministers, state officials, and ordinary people from both countries, impacted one another. It was this constancy of religion, values, and history, serving the bedrock of the relations between the two countries and peoples, over which the ephemeral was negotiated.Introduction; 1. The sources of the American support for Zionism; 2. Friendship: from Woodrow Wilson to Harry S. Truman; 3. Friendly impartiality, 19491958; 4. Strategic change 19581968; 5. From friendship to strategic alliance, 19691989; 6. Friendship and strategic alliance.'For anyone seeking to understand why American policymakers and Americans in general support Israel, this book is essential reading. Tal colÃ?